I was surprised to see as many empty seats for tonight’s match in the impressively named Stadium of Light; the crowd of 40,000 was well below the near 48,000 full house I expected. It is very close to Xmas though and people are feeling the pinch, particularly in the North, with the difficult cost of living crisis.

It is another away match for our team tonight. After Saturday’s match at Blackburn they have had Sunday and Monday as non-match days, certainly “a quick turn around”, a phrase often used by Daniel Farke.

The incessant rain made it a difficult trip to Blackburn for the Leeds United team and over 7,500 of its supporters, who braved the stormy weather to watch their heroes.

Leeds pop over the Pennines for a lunchtime meeting against Blackburn Rovers today. I assumed the match was on Sky, but not so, and it is the police that have requested an early kick-off with 7,000 Leeds fans piling into Ewood Park.

Leeds were unchanged as expected but it was a surprise to play towards the Kop in the first half. If the opening of the match 3 days ago was the most incredible start to a game I have ever seen then this one was a close second.

It will be another cold day at  Elland Road for the visit of Middlesbrough, with  temperatures again at zero with winter starting to bite. Reflecting on the home games so far, I am not so sure it is quite “fortress Elland Road” just yet.